Heavy rain, wind and lightning swept across Bogle Stadium late in the first quarter Friday night, sending the teams from Hidden Valley and Carroll County to their respective locker rooms.
When played resumed 45 minutes later, It was the Cavaliers from Hillsville that really witnessed the biggest deluge.
Scoring 43 unanswered points in the second and third quarters, Hidden Valley rolled to the 43-13 homecoming win to pick up their first win of the season after six losses.
Spearheading the Titan onslaught was quarterback Jonah Fitzgerald, who hooked up with receiver Ryan Mitchell for the game’s first four touchdowns on tosses of 7, 30 and 78 yards in the second quarter to go along with a 18 scoring strike early in the third.
The second quarter outburst after the teams returned to the field, quickly reversed all the momentum Carroll County had enjoyed throughout the opening 12 minutes.
“I don’t know what they talked about in their locker room during the delay, but obviously they made some adjustments that worked,” Carroll County head coach Eddie Sloss noted at midfield afterward. “We just came out flat. That’s no excuse because the delay was the same for both teams.”
“We had the momentum in the first quarter, took the clock and imposed our will,” Sloss added. “Then, Hidden Valley imposed their will. These types of things happen to everybody.”
Carroll County, already trailing 20-0 to open the second half, fumbled on its first two possessions that led to Mitchell’s fourth TD reception and a 4-yard touchdown run by Fitzgerald that put the Titans up 33-0.
Things only got worse for the Cavaliers on their ensuing possession when Hidden Valley held on downs and the Carroll County punter had his knee touch the ground fielding the snap, giving the ball back to the Titans at the Cavalier 4-yard line.
Although the Carroll County defense kept the Titans out of the end zone, Hidden Valley kicker Michael Driscoll connected on a 22-yard field goal from the left hash mark that increased the Titan lead to 36-0, and more importantly put the game clock in continuous running mode.
Carroll County coughed up the ball on its next possession, with Titan Brian Daniel scooping up the friendly bounce and returning it 28 yards to the end zone to make it 43-0.
The Cavaliers finally got on the scoreboard with 6:52 left in the fourth quarter on a Brennan Vaught 6-yard scoring run, and Carroll County added their final score on a 28-yard interception return by Tristen Ousley with 1:59 remaining.
The win gave Hidden Valley momentum and confidence heading into their final three games of the regular season.
“I felt for several weeks that we were getting close,” Hidden Valley head coach Scott Weaver noted outside the Titan locker room. “This was our first win since last November against Cave Spring, a long time.’
“There were no magic words in the locker room during the delay,” Weaver said. “In the first quarter we didn’t play to our potential. After the break, we finished plays and made catches. Now, we have next Friday off. You never want to lose going into a bye week.”
Bill Turner
